Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the
Arctic
By Jennifer Niven
Hyperion
HC, 431 pg. US$24.95/C$36.95
ISBN: 0-7868-6863-5

A journey to the end of the world

By Steven Martinovichweb posted January 5, 2004

The
desire to find out what is over the next hill has long been a fetish for
human beings. By the dawn of the 20th century much of the world had been
explored and mapped, leaving only the most inhospitable terrain as the stage
for further exploration. In 1921 a small party ventured to one of those places
-- the Arctic -- looking for adventure and finding only death. It's hard
to believe that their story, which once gripped the world for several years,
has almost been forgotten. It is a story compellingly told by Jennifer Niven
in Ada Blackjack: The True Story of Survival in the Arctic.

As bizarre a theory as we might be inclined to believe it today, during
the 1920s famed explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson proposed what he called the "Friendly
Arctic". Despite being a member of a doomed Arctic expedition a few
years earlier, Stefansson believed that the Arctic was no more dangerous
than the average city street for those adequately prepared, "a friendly
place to live in for the man who used common sense." In an attempt to
prove this notion, he put together a small team and sent them off to Wrangel
Island, a small island located off the coast of Siberia. With this expedition
he hoped to prove that the Arctic was worthy of development and -- known
to only a few people -- to claim the island for either Canada or Great Britain.

The crew was composed of Allan Crawford, Fred Maurer, Lorne Knight and Milton
Galle. Joining them as a seamstress was Inuit Ada Blackjack, a reluctant
member who only went along to raise money to take her son out of an orphanage
and get him treatment for his tuberculosis. Not making the trip himself,
Stefansson gave command of the expedition to Crawford, a University of Toronto
student who had never ventured into the far north. Equipped with six months
of provisions and promised a relief ship during the summer of 1922 they were
sent on their way.

So confident where they in Stefansson's belief of the Friendly Arctic, one
filled with plentiful game throughout the year, that they did little hunting
during their first few months on the island. That proved to be a poor decision
when a buildup of ice prevented the relief ship from landing with new supplies,
party because of Stefansson's inability to raise enough money to send the
ship until August. By January 1923, the party was running critically low
on food. After an aborted attempt by Knight, who by then was suffering from
scurvy, Crawford, Maurer and Galle went off in an attempt to reach Siberia.

Niven then focuses the story on Blackjack. A resident for most of her life
of Alaska's mining communities, Blackjack had no experience in Arctic living.
With the ravages of scurvy, which Niven chronicles in detail, forcing Knight
to stay in bed, Blackjack is forced to learn how to hunt to keep the pair
alive. Eventually Knight succumbs and she is left alone to fend for herself,
waiting for either the return of Crawford, Maurer and Galle or the long promised
supply ship.

Back in the United States Stefansson tries to calm the fears of the men's
families who haven't heard word from their sons in two years. He attempts
to calm them by telling them that the men are in no danger and that another
relief ship will be sent in the summer of 1923. At the same time he attempts
to convince the Canadian and British governments to claim Wrangel Island,
a move which prompts an angry response by the Soviet Union. To add to his
problems, he has difficulty raising the money necessary to send another ship
to re-supply the expedition.

By the time a relief ship reaches Wrangel Island, Blackjack is the sole
survivor of the expedition. Although occasional reports of white men along
the coast of Siberia reach North America, Crawford, Maurer and Galle have
long since disappeared, likely dead not long after leaving the island. Blackjack
and the men become pawns in a battle by Stefansson to protect his zealous
belief in the Friendly Arctic and by his detractors who want to destroy his
reputation. Blackjack simply wants to get on with her life after the horrors
of Wrangel Island, reclaim her son and live in peace. The vivid imagery Niven
paints of the desperate struggle for survival on the island gives way to
the less compelling -- though still quite interesting -- story of personal
politics surrounding the aftermath.

Although that last third of the book is somewhat less exciting, Ada
Blackjack remains a fascinating story. Throughout most of her life Blackjack was reluctant
to discuss what happened on Wrangel Island, leaving a sensationalist press,
Stefansson and others to use her for their purposes. Showing extraordinary
skill in storytelling and research, Niven convincingly brings to life the
doomed expedition's tale. Blackjack, Crawford, Knight, Maurer and Galle would
be pleased to know that someone as talented as Niven told their story, someone
capable of bringing them back to life and restoring their names to us.

Steven Martinovich is a freelance writer in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.

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